She’s finally doing it. After tantalising diners with two years of seriously delicious pop-ups and events, chef and award-winning cookbook author Rosheen Kaul is taking the keys to a restaurant. Little Rose – which ran as a three-month residency off Fitzroy’s Brunswick Street between May 9 and August 2 – will open for good on August 20.
“It feels like the right time,” says the nascent restaurateur. “I’m absolutely stoked.”
Kaul and regular front-of-house collaborator Rachel Toca have bought into the business alongside incumbents James Tait and Luke Drum, who ran this off-Broadway venue as Alta Trattoria from 2023, then Cantina Moro in 2025. Each iteration has made the most of the charming two-room space, with the front door spilling into a bright street-side dining area and an internal room hugging the bar.
Kaul’s last ongoing position (and her first head-chef job) was at the hatted Etta, where she ran the kitchen from 2021 for three years, retaining the Brunswick East restaurant’s hat and wowing The Age chief critic Besha Rodell, who called Etta “a poster child for this city’s dining” in 2022. Kaul’s first book, Chinese-ish, authored with illustrator Joanna Hu, won a coveted James Beard Award in 2023 for Best Visuals.
It was a whirlwind time that became overwhelming and Kaul left Etta in 2024. She had previously worked in top kitchens, including the two-hat Lee Ho Fook and now-closed Dinner by Heston, but her highest rank prior to the Etta gig was chef de partie. (Generally, chefs de partie are responsible for one area of a kitchen; they don’t manage staff or develop menus.)
“So much happened so quickly,” she says. “I didn’t have the skill set to solve issues in my kitchen team, even fixing a dishwasher. I needed to stop for a second.”
Kaul explored other paths – recipe writing, content creation – and clarified her ambition. “Once I removed the noise, I realised I am at home in the kitchen. I am taking the next step as a more fully formed chef and person.”
She also realised the sort of cooking she wanted to do. Etta’s kitchen is built around a wood hearth. “I responded to that by cooking the South-East Asian food I grew up with,” she says. “It was about the space rather than my style. I’ve always been a fine-dining girl at heart.”
Her pop-up and collab era was a kind of finishing school in restaurants of different shapes and sizes, including Adelaide’s Arkhe and Sydney’s Porcine. “I realised I don’t like cooking over fire that much, I prefer cooking in pans,” she says. “Now I’m leaning into the grand cuisines, nerding out, reading my tattered Escoffier, Google-translating my Chinese cookbooks.”
Kaul’s food at Little Rose in pop-up phase was thrilling, melding French bistro dishes with Chinese flavours. A buttery slump of pureed potatoes was dressed with a Suzhou-style crab roe sauce. Panisse – a fried chickpea flour snack from Nice – was served with sizzling spring onion oil. Vol-au-vent was paired with a zingy sauce au poivre and oysters stir-fried in Shaoxing wine.
“It’s fun but recognisable, using natural nuances,” she says.
There will be whimsical touches to the permanent Little Rose, such as using vintage candelabras as a platform to serve caviar. The interior will reflect Kaul’s sense of fun, with touches like a raspberry-shaped glass chandelier.
On the brink of a new beginning, you might expect Kaul to be excited. “I actually feel more content than anything,” she says. “This has happened in such a natural way that it feels like it’s meant to be.”
She’s also conscious of the magnitude of tying herself down. “Buying into a small business, a restaurant especially, is a serious thing to take on,” she says. “I’m lucky, and I think we’ll do well, but it’s still a terrifying concept.”
Little Rose opens August 20. Bookings go live Wednesday, August 5.
274 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, littlerosefitzroy.com